Page 54 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 3 #3

I understand your point about the lens shap- Francois: So, what do you do when that hap-
ing both the experience and the composition. pens?
As far as JPG versus RAW, that makes perfect Falcon: There isn't much I can do. Generally,
sense. Eighty percent less data would signifi- we don't have many options. So, if we wear out
cantly change the emotional experience an im- one location, we either have to find another or
age conveys. tough it out.
Falcon: Exactly. Francois: How do you do that? Tough it out I
Francois: Okay, I will grant your point about mean.
the camera participating in the creation of a Falcon: Well, unless I am able to add another
photograph even though I still find that idea a location, which is highly unlikely, I have to ad-
bit strange. How a camera participates in the just.
creation of an image sounds like a great top- Francois: How do you adjust?
ic for another time. Right now I want to focus Falcon: There are many ways. For example, if I
on how the model - or in this case the models usually work in the afternoon, I will change and
- participate in the creation of an image that work in the morning. I will try to limit the rooms
is emotionally powerful and deeply moving. I I work in - effectively making some off limits so
also want to talk about the role location plays that I don't exhaust all the possibilities.
in the creative process. In the fall of 2002, when the sadness and grief
So, lets look at location first. Two questions. I had carried my entire life nearly killed me, I
The first, how did you decide to work in this learned that I couldn't ignore my emotions. Well,
cemetery if you had never done so before or I could, but eventually, they would catch up with
hadn't scouted the location first? And the sec- me. Since then, I have been much more open to
ond, much of your work in North Carolina is what I am feeling. I also realized that in the West
done at three or four locations. How do you we relegate emotion and our awareness of what
continue to get emotionally moving images we are feeling to a level below being rational - es-
when the location doesn't change? Isn't it pos- pecially if you are male.
sible that you would just wear out the emotion Francois: Very true. So, you have found a way
a location has to offer? around that.
Falcon: Excellent questions. Falcon: I suppose. However, it is a lesson that
It is easy for a photographer to fall into a rou- must be learned everyday anew. I learned from
tine. Same location. Lights in the same places. Torment that music can be a powerful tool for
Model in the same poses. For me, falling into opening one's emotional awareness. So, in the
a routine isn't just the end of creativity. It pre- early days, I always listened to music, either on
cludes the creation of emotionally powerful CD, or in my mind. While I am less inclined to
images. So, yes, when I work at the same loca- do that now, I always ask myself what I am feel-
tion many times, if I am not careful I could lose ing when I am getting ready to work. And this is
my creative edge. All my photos could look the where the model plays a critical role.
same. In the past I have joked that I don't photograph
Francois: So, how do you keep that from hap- Barbie, as though Barbie exists. But, in point of
pening - or do you? Do you just abandon a loca- fact, I don't work with women who are emotion-
tion after a period of time? ally shallow. Well, lets say I make every attempt
Falcon: I have. Well, for a brief period of time. to spot a shallow model before we work together.
At one point I went at least eight months be- For example, if we are going to work at Belmont,
tween shoots at Belmont. When we were work- as I show the model the various rooms where we
ing at Bona Manzee regularly there were times could work, I watch her carefully. I do everything
when I struggled to find a new vision. I can to read her emotions. I enlist her in the

54 | Behind the Scenes: An Interview